The Harbaugh Watch: Phoenix
Robert E. Lee High School
(San Antonio, Tex.)
In his first stop on the recruiting trail during this evaluation period, Jim Harbaugh took a look in Phoenix at an up-and-coming quarterback noteworthy for
his feet and fast 40 time at the San Francisco Scout.com All-American Combine.
The Cardinal head coach landed next in San Antonio and visited Lee High School
quarterback Jerome Tiller, who was clocked in March at the Dallas Scout.com
Combine running a 4.50 and more recently ran a 4.46 three times at his high
school with a college coach watching.
Tiller is rated at three stars and holds scholarship offers from Texas A&M,
Minnesota and Purdue. After Harbaugh eyeballed him at his high school, the
6'3" 180-pound athlete landed an offer from the Cardinal.
"It was a big surprise," Tiller reacts. "I was really shocked.
Really shocked... To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what led him to
decide to offer me."
"He is showing me that he wants me to go to his school. The head coach
made an attempt to come to my high school," the quarterback recruit says of
Harbaugh's visit. "They [Stanford] made an improvement, from just barely
talking to them to offering. That's something on the radar for them."
Tiller names his four offer schools as his favorites, with none ahead of the
others. He does however have a favorable impression and relationship with
Harbaugh.
"He's outgoing. He's pretty cool," Tiller assesses. "He's similar
to my head coach, so I know I can get along with him."
The Lee High School standout is a dual-threat athlete under center, throwing
for more than 1,300 yards and 10 touchdowns while also rushing for another 450
yards and 12 more scores.
Madison High School
(San Antonio, Tex.)
Offered by the Cardinal in late April, running back Devin Thomas at Madison
High School is another headline grabber in the Alamo City. Thomas ran for
more than 200 yards per game as a junior and scored 23 touchdowns. The
5'11" burner set the city single-game rushing record in a 487-yard performance,
so it came as little surprise when he picked up an offer as a junior from Texas
A&M before Signing Day had wrapped for the Class of 2007 seniors. Thomas
subsequently added offers from Arkansas, Duke and New Mexico State.
Thomas holds the Aggies and Razorbacks as his cofavorites, and the San
Antonio speedster figured he would make his college choice from the pair.
"I was," Thomas tells us. "But now with Stanford offering me, I'm
thinking I might just wait a little bit more and see who else offers me. I
want to get it all in so I can make a final decision."
As the Cardinal crept into the picture, the running back recruit placed them
initially fourth on his list. Then Thomas and his team held their first
scrimmage of the spring on Thursday.
"We did pretty good," he says. "The offense - we did alright. We
need to get used to playing with each other. We didn't have any
touchdowns, but we had some big gains."
In attendance were assistants from Arkansas and A&M. So, too, was
Stanford head coach Jim Harbaugh.
"I didn't know he was coming. I thought it was going to be Coach
[Lance] Anderson," Thomas admits. "It was pretty exciting."
"He's a nice guy. He seems really nice," the recruit comments on
Harbaugh. "I like him."
"It made a huge impression," Thomas says. "They're rising.
They're getting up there with A&M and Arkansas because I know it's not that
often that the head coach comes to see somebody scrimmage. So that made me
pretty excited."
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